Gretchen Ruth Cusick, Principal Investigator
2009

Chapin Hall is conducting an evaluation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The goal of the initiative is to strengthen and expand a systemic continuum of supports and services to promote safe, respectful, and drug-free school environments and support healthy social and emotional development for all students. The initiative aims to achieve these goals by strengthening linkages among key partners in order to improve school climate, increase mental health service availability and quality, reduce violent behaviors at school, increase school attendance, and decrease substance use.

Chapin Hall is designing and conducting both a process and an outcomes evaluation of the initiative. The former involves qualitative evaluation of the collaborative efforts of CPS and its three partners in the initiative (Illinois Department of Human Services, Mental Health Division; the Chicago Police Department; and the juvenile court) and a quantitative analysis of process measures. The latter includes a quantitative evaluation of baseline and annual outcome measures in order to assess change in student behavior and perceptions of school climate over the grant period.